IMPEDIMENTS
Development to ECOMOMIC
By Vern Redekop
Part one of a discussion of Lateral Violence and other factors holding back development
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osnia is like a reserve across the ocean!” exclaimed Algonquin Verna McGregor at a consultation on Economic Development Based on Reconciliation in Bosnia. She noted the economic development challenges there after civil war mirrored those in First Nations communities. Echoing those sentiments, lawyer Catherine Twinn of the Sawridge Reserve in Alberta invited Vern Neufeld Redekop to adapt his research proposal on Bosnia to the needs of indigenous peoples in Canada. Redekop is an associate professor in the conflict studies program at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. At the heart of his approach is the realization that it is virtually impossible for economic development to succeed without good, trusting relationships and healthy structures of governance, conflict resolution and leadership accountability. These concepts were developed by Manley A. Begay, Jr., of the Harvard project on indigenous economic development. Begay is also a director of the Native Nations Institute for Studies in Public Policy and a senior lecturer in the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona. In many cases, the values and structural conditions needed for economic development are sabotaged by what is known as lateral violence. Lateral violence can be seen in the crab effect – community members pulling down anyone who seems to be getting ahead. The idea is expressed by the phrase, “If you have something that I desire and I can’t have it, I will make damn well certain that you can’t have it either.” Results are destroyed businesses, character assassination through gossip, cheating on employers, or failure to pay money owed. Begay emphasizes the need for capable and effective
Professor Vern Neufeld Redekop was invited by Indians to adopt his approach for economic development in postwar Bosnia to Canadian indigenous’ economies.
NATIVE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2010 41
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